SUNNYVALE

(72) TWO MEWIS AND A WILD KELLEY

Sam did in fact follow Kelley that night, but not without reservations. 

She insisted so that her sister Kristie could accompany her, in case something goes wrong. Rolling her eyes, Kelley nonetheless accepted, visibly fed up with humans already. 

"This is a fucking terrible idea, Sammy" Kristie whispers, almost in a angry hiss, toward her younger sister.

"What was I supposed to do, uh? Just go alone like every dumb white blonde girl would do?" Sam responds, offended.

Rolling her eyes at her, Kristie just remains silent as they both follow Kelley.

As hanging out with one of Satan's heiresses, who also happened to be an evil-minded revengeful girl, was not making either of the Mewis sisters comfortable, they knew they had to trust her in order to uncover what was really going on in Sunnyvale - that has been their home since they were born. Of course they've always felt like something wasn't right there, but Kelley's whole theory about Sunnyvale being a metaphor for Heaven and Hell wasn't that senseless after all. 

The Black Forest was noisy this evening, as animal noises, as well as strange cries coming from the farthest place away from them would make them shiver in fear. Kelley knew the forest by heart, as she immediately lead them, in less than ten minutes, at the heart of it- where nobody ever dares going, because legend has it that the forest is haunted (and indeed it was). Once they reach for a gigantic tree, they feel movement behind them, and when Kristie turns around, she immediately recognises someone. 

Her voice is emotional when she stammers:

"J-Jane?"

Jane Campbell, in an unusually pale form (as if Kristie could put her hand right through her) was floating in front of them, with a smile on her face, before yet another ghost appears, this time being Rose. Sam's eyes immediately become wet as she sees her best friend for the first time since she died.

The two girls seemed friendly - except toward Kelley.

"Are you going to turn them into your servants like you did to us, you evil bitch?" Rose aggressively asks, frowning. 

"Oh, honey" Kelley sarcastically lets out, "you are my servants 'cause you're dead, and there is nothing you can do about that. As for the Mewis' fate, do not worry: Sam is most valuable while alive..."

"And if she kills me" Kristie adds, "Sam will never do anything, so, yeah, we're safe for now, I think."

Kelley rolls her eyes.

"As much as this little friends reunion is cute and shit, we should really get going." the brunette states, bitter.

"What even is this place, uh?" Sam asks, impatient. "Why are we in front of some old-ass tree?"

Kelley smirks once again, shamelessly mocking the two sisters. 

Then, she intensively stares at the tree, before closing her eyes and raising her hand toward it: as soon as she does close her eyes, there is a sound coming from inside the tree, as the stem starts moving, while several cracks start to show, until one big hole digs itself from the tree, leading to a dark tunnel. 

Raising their eyebrows, Kristie and Sam exchange a look, before Kelley says:

"This, ladies, is the Tree of Life, leading us right to the Garden of Eden: your answers are there, if only you'd follow me."

With that said, she disappears in the dark tunnel, before being followed by the two blondes, throwing one last look at their ghost friends.

Kristie and Sam grab each other's hands, just in case...

***

After touching Shelina's hand without her gloves on, Crystal had seen exactly what the brunette had just lived.

They were sitting at the police station, that was right above the morgue, where Mary Zadorsky's body was opened up and analysed with scrutiny. Nobody but Crystal, as Shelina's girlfriend, was allowed inside the room with the brunette, who had teared up so much that there were no tears left in her body, as she would just stare into emptiness, not saying a single word since they had found her with her dead nothing bleeding out inside her arms. 

The town's sheriff was down, which meant that her assistant was about to step up to her position, which was a terrible news: it was Alyssa Naeher.

When she enters the room Crystal and Shelina are in, they immediately want to jump at her throat. But the tall brunette stares at them coldly, silently advising them to remain calm and seated. She then sits down in front of them, as Shelina feels a deeply rooted hatred growing inside of her - she knew in her guts that Naeher had something to do with her mother's sudden and terrible death, because her in Sunnyvale, nothing ever happens on accident.

But when Tobin comes inside the room, the two girls are surprised.

"Allow me to introduce you the junior sheriff - my apprentice, Tobin Heath."

"This is a fucking joke, right?" Crystal immediately says, getting up from her chair, visibly upset. As her childhood friend closes the door behind her, she adds, turning toward Naeher: "So what, you thought taking in an apprentice from the Westside would just make you look better? 'Cause it fucking doesn't."

"Why don't just sit down, Miss Dunn?" Alyssa Naeher asks in a calm voice, a smirk on her face. After a second, while Crystal is still standing, she adds: "You should know that, as a demon of Hell, I am obviously an ally of the Western cause here in Sunnyvale: after all, this is still an on-going war."

"Give me your hand, then" Crystal orders.

Staring at her in confusion, Tobin shakes her head now, as a warning probably. But before Shelina or her could hold her back, Crystal takes a few steps toward the new sheriff, staring right into her eyes.

Nodding her head, Naeher says:

"As you wish."

She then grabs Crystal's hand without her glove, and everything turns dark.

Moments that were flashing through Crystal's amazed mind immediately revealed to her the dark truth behind the whole purpose and destiny of the shady town of Sunnyvale, where nothing was like it seemed.

Once Naeher lets go of her hand, Crystal's nose starts bleeding, as Shelina had never seen her so speechless and... scared...